“I pray for his speedy recovery,” Ismail said in a tweet this evening.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also took up Najib’s case this evening in a separate posting on Facebook.

Zahid called for Najib to be accorded his right to be kept safe and healthy and to be treated humanely even though he was serving time in prison.

“I hope his family will stay strong,” he said, adding that he was saddened by news of Najib’s ailment.

Najib’s family had pleaded with the government earlier today to allow him to be given proper medical treatment after Najib was said to have developed multiple stomach ulcers recently.

He was admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Friday. His special officer, Mukhlis Maghribi, said Najib underwent a scope procedure on Saturday in which a doctor discovered the ulcers.

Najib had then requested that he be kept under further observation but his request was denied and he was discharged, Mukhlis said.

However, the director-general of health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, said later that a panel of specialists at the hospital had discussed the case with his family and had jointly agreed to allow Najib to be discharged, after being declared healthy.

Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence on corruption charges in the SRC International case.